The "Strong Lebanon" parliamentary bloc held its regular meeting on Tuesday under the chairmanship of FPM secretary general, Ibrahim Kanaan, who in the wake of the deliberations confirmed that "what we are witnessing today is not an economic collapse. What is required is calmness and approaching things as they are. We are facing a crisis resulting from a reform agenda that needs to be implemented. (...) The implementation is the responsibility of the government as a whole, otherwise let us choose another means."

Kanaan pointed out that "the non-functioning institutions have reached 74 in count, according to official reports, to Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, and to the conclusion we reached in the Finance and Budget Committee when discussing budgets. "Why do these institutions still exist?" he thus wondered.

"We keep hearing about the economic vision. The McKinsey report was meant to generate this vision forwarded to the Council of Ministers on April 8. Doesn't it deserve a Cabinet session for approval, especially when it includes projects and sectors that are top priority at this stage? The Cedre project is ready in turn. Where are the executive mechanisms and specifically the most urgent projects to launch?" Kanaan asked.

Addressing "those who seek wants to exploit what is happening in politics to place the responsibility on the President of the Republic and his political team's shoulders, in the hopes that the covenant would collapse," Kanaan said "to this day, we consider it our job to rescue the economy and end the country's financial crisis which resulted from an accumulation of decades during which we were not part of the ruling authority; we were not even in the country. Do not embarrass us any further. We do not want to be dragged into this rhetoric. We call on you to shoulder your responsibilities in implementing the reforms we have agreed to. The approach should be conscientious because the country is dear to us all."

"In the name of the bloc, we affirm that we want bold decisions. The implementation is the responsibility of the institutions. No one should be betting on exploiting any defect or loophole to hold us accountable because such attempts will push us towards adopting different approaches," he concluded.